Disarm
by Italian Roulette
Summary: No one would know exactly what he gave until he was already gone.  But when the truth comes out, how far will they go to make amends?  And can Naruto even be saved at that point?  It won't still them all from trying.  Eventual SasuNaru, slight NaruAll


I'm alive!

^/^; Hello, everyone - for those of you reading this that have read my past work, you'd know that it has been over 8 years since I last touched this account. Earlier this year I stumbled upon it, and decided to try reviving it and posting some new things - mainly yaoi. Unfortunately, after a 5 month struggle of trying to see if I could salvage my past work, I deemed it all a lost cause an deleted it in hopes of giving myself a fresh start.

This was kind of an idea I worked up a while ago, and I wanted to expand on it while I still had it. It will be yaoi, and there will be hints of multiple pairings throughout the story. Let me know if there is anything specific you'd like to see, and we'll see where this goes.

I don't own Naruto, nor Bleach.

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><p>Naruto gazed out the window, his blue eyes in a blank stare as his mind raced erratically and he weighted out his options. After 16 years of fighting through his life, the blonde jinchuuriki had come to several conclusions that would take a lifetime for others to fathom.<p>

For one, it takes a man to devote his life to turning his dreams into reality.

Naruto had set high goals from the start and never stopped for one minute in his struggle to reach them. The whole village knew this, although, they had no idea what the strain and force felt like, not having rested once in his conquest toward greatness.

But more importantly, it takes an even bigger man to give up his dreams for the good of every person and thing in the world, no matter what pain and heart break it means for himself.

_Would you be proud of me for this, Tou-san? Kaa-san? It feels wrong to just give up, but I know it's what needs to be done. Did you feel like this too when you threw it all away?_ The blonde boy frowned deeper, lifting his head and glancing at his headband that rested nestled in black cloth in his palm. The metal sent an odd shaped rectangle of light reflecting off its surface across his face lazily, and yet gave no answer.

He felt ashamed to stare at the metal reminder of his shinobi status, knowing that everything that it stood for would soon have no right to be placed on his forehead where it belonged.

Most people wouldn't understand his sacrifice, or the justification and honor he would deserved in reply to his actions. So many of his friends would be angry, most would probably hate him, but this was necessary. Eventually, once word reached them on exactly what had happened, then they would understand; some would even praise him, he was sure.

He'd get the respect and admiration that he craved and yearned for, but it wouldn't be the product of what he wanted, and it would cost him everything.

_It's gotta happen_, he reassured himself. _One way or another, it's gotta happen; it's better at your hand than someone else's._

He hated being right.

The beast within him growled slightly in warning, his anger at the turn of events dulling into a bitter respect as he acknowledged the strength his vessel was displaying at taking control of his life and village in the darkest of ways. **There is someone here.**

"Mm," Naruto confirmed seconds before a soft knock reached his door. "Come in."

Naruto didn't turn as the door creaked open, clicking shut nearly inaudibly as whoever came to visit him stepped inside. He didn't turn as he felt his company's eyes studying him, taking in every detail and willing his suspicion to ease with the visual confirmation he was taking in.

When the foreboding shadow didn't dissipate in the slightest, the intruder clenched his fists at his sides, barely containing his snarl of frustration.

"Did you need something, Gaara?"

The red head narrowed his sea foam eyes at the blonde, noting the normally happy blondes blatant refusal to look him in the eye.

"You've been different since the Summit event." It wasn't a question, Naruto knew even with the redhead's usual stoic tone. "How far do you intend to go for Uchiha?"

The silence that answered him drew another sound from the Kazekage's throat which would have terrified anyone else, but to Naruto, it was a distinct whine of annoyance.

"Naruto!"

The said blonde bit back the usual satisfaction he got whenever emotions passed his friend's iron poker face. Gaara was already on edge, he knew, and pissing him off more would not only be unwise, but dangerous.

"How far would you go for Suna? For Temari and Kankuro? Sasuke is my responsibility, I'll do what I have to for him and Konoha; you understand that the most, don't you?"

Naruto could feel the former jinchuuriki behind him before the hand even closed over his shoulder, and he didn't resist when that hand whirled him around and shoved him against the window he had been previously gazing out of.

"Of course I understand that; just like I understand doing things that stupid do more harm than good in the long run. Do you really think something like that is going to make anyone happy? Konoha needs you, Naruto. And Uchiha needs you even more; you're the only one that can save him, and even _he_ knows that," Gaara rasped angrily, his voice softening as he continued, his forehead coming to rest on his closest friend's shoulder. "What makes him so special that you'd go so far just to bring him home in one piece? What about _your_ friends?"

Naruto continued to stare ahead on him, allowing the redhead to vent as he pleased, knowing it was a luxury that the slightly older male would soon be forced to go without despite his effort to talk sense into him. It was also something he himself would miss. The comfort of someone who understood him.

A friend.

"It's _for_ my friends that I have to bring him back. I would never be able to forgive myself if I just sat back and let him die in his darkness. Madara has to be stopped, and I have more than a few other reasons to take him out personally. You don't know yet, but this isn't just about Sasuke anymore. I _have_ to do this," Naruto declared, wrapping an arm around Gaara's back to offer some form of comfort, weak though it may be.

Gaara's hand fisted on Naruto's shoulder, the demonic sand stirring within the gourd on his back telling him there really was nothing he could do.

Still, the Kazekage grit his teeth in anxiety as he weighted out his current situations. The beast in his body was gone, the throbbing emptiness making every dark corner of his mind that much more apparent and drawing forth issues and feelings he wasn't accustomed to dealing with. The blonde had been his rock in rough waters; the only thing he could grab onto in rough times to ease his torment and shoulder some of his burden.

Now that rock was slipping out of his grip and the teen knew he wasn't ready to let go.

However, it seemed he didn't have a choice.

"You said you mastered Kyuubi, correct? Will you come back someday?"

"It's not Kyuubi that I have issues with right now; you know there is no going back after this," the blonde murmured, blue eyes finally sliding closed and his head leaning back into the window with a fragile thud. Gods, he still couldn't keep the feeling of utter defeat out of his chest when he thought of what it would take to win. "Can you promise me something, Gaara?"

The redhead was still for a moment, knowing already what the blonde would ask and wanting nothing more than to refuse him. He was too angry to feel any shard of forgiveness for anyone right now, specially not for someone who didn't deserve it. He nodded anyways when he felt Naruto's other arm join the first around his back.

"Take care of Sasuke for me. He'll need someone to keep his head up when this is over, and there's only a few I know that I trust enough to do it."

"Why should I?" the sand shinobi growled softly. "What has that bastard ever done for me other than reap havoc on the ninja world and force my only friend to forge his own death sentence?"

"Please, Gaara," Naruto sighed, fighting down the urge to back out of his own plan. He hated hearing someone else say it - it made things sound so much worse than he rationalized in his head. "It's something I need to know will be taken care of or else I won't be able to rest once it's over."

Gaara scolded at the word choice. For such a knuckle head, the blonde was suddenly able to manipulate those around him more easily than usual with a few carefully selected words. No doubt a skill he picked up from his father - a fact he kept to himself after digging through Suna archives one night looking for information on Akatsuki.

"…I won't let him die. He'll have two lives to live for now; everyone will. He won't be so lucky to pass on until he's reached a reasonable age… by my standards."

Naruto allowed the chuckle to bubble passed the lump in his throat, the sound coming out as half a sob as the blonde relaxed against his friend. "As long as it's a normal age for a Shinobi, I don't mind. You can whop his ass as much as you want, though," he teased, feeling the redhead's back puff once in a smothered snort of thanks.

"Will you do me a favor in return?"

Naruto nodded once.

"Stay with me tonight."

"You're in my apartment, Gaara, where _else _would I stay?" the blonde laughed again in amusement as the redhead stepped away from him and leveled him with his usual disapproving glare.

"You're awfully cocky for someone nearing the end of your life."

"How else should I be? I can't pull off emo to the degree those Uchiha bastards can."

"And look where that got them."

"No kidding, dude," Naruto grinned, throwing his arms behind his head as his normal air of confidence returned to him.

The expression eased Gaara slightly, at least enough for him to sigh in exasperation as he relaxed his shoulders and crossed his arms. That was the shinobi he knew and the young man he wanted to remember, no matter what torture he knew lurked beneath that grin.

That was a man worth being called a true Hero, and Naruto was nothing short of being just that.

"Oh, and do you think you could do one more thing for me?"

"What is it, now?"

That grin faltered, truth pouring from every cell of his being as blue eyes slid to the side to glance out the window at Konohagakure from his peripherals.

"Don't let them hate me."

Uzumaki Naruto was Konoha's last Hero.


End file.
